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HomeIndiaOscar winner Parasite borrowed from 1999 Tamil film? Some in Chennai say...

Oscar winner Parasite borrowed from 1999 Tamil film? Some in Chennai say yes

People in Chennai are comparing Minsara Kanna, featuring Vijay and Monica Castelino, with Korean Oscar winner Parasite.

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Chennai: Movie-goers in Chennai were stunned to notice, while watching Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar winning film Parasite, that it shared striking similarities to a 1999 Tamil film.

The film Minsara Kanna, directed by K.S. Ravikumar and starring Vijay and Monica Castelino is about a young man, Kanan (Vijay), who falls in love with the younger sister, Ishwariya (Monica Castelino), of an overprotective millionaire when he meets her in Germany.

When they return to India, he decides to pose as a bodyguard and is employed by her millionaire sister. His brother and sister are also roped in to keep an eye on the family and help further their brother’s agenda, and are hired as a servant and cook respectively.

Parasite shares the same theme of “infiltration” by proxy. In the Korean film, a poor family of four con a rich, upper-class family into hiring them: The son is hired as a tutor, the sister as an art therapist, the father as a driver, and the mother as a housekeeper.

The similarities between the two films, however, end there.

While in Minsara Kanna, Kanan and Ishwarya — who are both from rich families — are ultimately united in love, a twist in Parasite’s story reveals the deep class divides that plague society in the age of capitalism.


Also read: Oscar-nominated ‘Parasite’ signals global rise of South Korean films


What Vijay fans are saying

Fans of Vijay are convinced Joon-Ho borrowed the concept from Minsara Kanna, and have taken to Twitter to express their point of view.

But not everyone agrees.

“This cannot be used to claim that the concept that anchored parasite has been inspired by a Tamil movie,” said Maathevan, a film critic with Galata.com.

“Parallel thinking does exist in the world and it is not surprising to see such ideas coming to different people without probably seeing each other’s works.”


Also read: Oscar event has become a political stage. But White, male-led Hollywood isn’t catching up


 

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